Amy Biancolli

Amy Biancolli, an arts wonk, amateur musician and lifelong movie buff, started covering the arts scene for the Times Union in 1991 – first as a freelancer, then as a staffer. Eventually she morphed into the TU film critic, a position she held until 2000. In 2004 she began writing film reviews for the Houston Chronicle – first as a freelancer, then as a staffer. After many years of forming and spouting opinions on movies, she is now happy to be back in her old digs (the TU) at her old gig (arts reporting).

Amy was born in Queens, grew up in Connecticut and holds degrees from Hamilton College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She’s published two books so far: one musical biography (“Fritz Kreisler: Love’s Sorrow, Love’s Joy”) and one memoir (“House of Holy Fools: A Family Portrait in Six Cracked Parts”). A third is in the works. When she isn’t consuming the arts or writing about them, she’s schlepping her children somewhere. When she isn’t schlepping her children somewhere, she’s singing or playing the violin for her own enjoyment.

Her cultural tastes run from high brow to low brow and cover every wrinkle in between. Her favorite films include “Notorious,” “Singin’ in the Rain” and “Aguirre, the Wrath of God”; her favorite music runs from Shostakovich and Sibelius to Stevie Wonder and Sufjan Stevens; her favorite book is “War and Peace,” and don’t judge it till you’ve read it. She’s an unapologetic sci-fi geek, but please don’t ask her to choose between “Lost,” “Battlestar Galactica” and the original “Star Trek.”